TEHRAN (Press Shia Agency) – The Iranian president's chief of staff, Mahmoud Vaezi, said the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), the mechanism devised by the European Union aimed at facilitating trade with Iran in the US sanctions era, will come into effect within two or three weeks.

– Politics news –

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet session in Tehran on Wednesday, Vaezi pointed to recent measures taken by the European parties to the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to save the deal after the US withdrawal and said the SPV will become operational in two or three weeks.

The European Union has vowed to counter US President Donald Trump’s renewed sanctions on Iran, including by means of a new law to shield European companies from punitive measures.

On May 8, the US president pulled his country out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal that was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

Following the US exit, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.

Trump on August 6 signed an executive order re-imposing many sanctions on Iran, three months after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal.

He said the US policy is to levy “maximum economic pressure” on the country.

The second batch of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic took effect on November 4.